The official blog of the Cleveland Indians Community Outreach Department.

May 2011

Back in my days as a Berkshire Badger (high school and mascot) cross-country runner, my team used to do some crazy stuff with our hair. Partially to psyche out the competition, partially because we were ranked 2nd in the state, a little because we had nothing better to do, but mostly because we looked freakin’ sweet when we did it. We had anything from mohawks one year, to long hair the next and even shaving our heads for our conference championship (which we won). When I say we shaved our heads…we shaved them down to the skin. Bic it, is what we called it, because we would use a Bic razor to get that nice, close shave. If I ever find a picture of us, I’ll post it up here–but don’t hold your breath.

As with all of my blog entries, the opening paragraph eventually leads into what I need to promote for Indians in the Community. This entry is no different.

This Friday night, while the Indians are taking on their inter-state/league rival Cincinnati Reds, our Indians Wives Association will be hosting what we call the “Tribe Treasures” silent auction. All of the players’ wives come up with fun things of their husbands that they can auction off that the general public wouldn’t normally be able to ever buy. Some of the items include:

a Josh Tomlin game used glove (autographed)

a pair of game used cleats and batting gloves (autographed) from Jack Hannahan

Breakfast with Matt LaPorta and his wife

A half-hour pitching lesson from Chris Perez

Meet and greet with Travis Hafner

Probably the coolest and most unusual thing (in my opinion) comes from Justin Masterson’s wife. She is auctioning off the opportunity to have Justin Masterson shave your head in the home dugout before a game. I’m expecting him to Bic it.

If you aren’t into having your head shaved by a professional baseball player, and don’t enjoy breakfast with two strangers, or wearing some other guy’s cleats…there are still other great items to bid on. Or you can take your chances on the Mystery Ball fundraiser. For $40, you can reach in and get a wrapped up baseball autographed by one of the players on the Indians team. You won’t know what you are getting until you pay for it and open it up (hence the “mystery”). All monies raised will go to charity.

The auction will begin at 5:30 and will in section 153 up until the 7th inning. So make your way down there and put some bids on these wicked cool items. If you don’t want to bid, you can always just chat it up with the wives! See you there and GO TRIBE!!

They say that newspapers are a dying breed. I don’t know who “they” are, but they are probably the people who are no longer subscribing to newspapers. When I asked the morning newspaper what it’s thoughts were on this, it just sat there on my doorstep without a response. We’ll just mark that down as a “no comment.”

Yesterday, the Cleveland Indians and The Plain Dealer partnered together to put on the annual Tribe Reporter for a Day event here at Progressive Field. This event has been an annual thing since Chris Perez last had short hair. The purpose of Tribe Reporter for a Day is to give high school students the chance to be, well, to be a reporter for the Tribe for a day. We are very creative with our event names.

High School students were asked to submit essays to The Plain Dealer telling why they are interested in sports writing and how taking part in this event would further their future career plans. Out of about 200 essays, the top 25 were chosen and those kids were brought to Progressive Field on May 10, 2011. The day began with them sitting in on an actual press conference with Manny Acta and the local media. After the press conference, Plain Dealer sports writer, Paul Hoynes, spoke with the young reporters. He gave them some insight on his world as well as some tips on how to make it in the business. After a few questions/answers, they were taken to the stands to watch the Indians take some batting practice. During this time, they were looking through their media guides and getting some notes/questions together for their own press conference with some of the players.

Shortly after batting practice, the reporters were brought to the Press Interview Room under the ballpark where they had the opportunity to interview Chris Perez, Adam Everett and Vinnie Pestano. The players seemed to enjoy the questions, which I should add were pretty intense questions at times. The session ended with a group photo and will be followed by stories from each reporter of their experience during the event.

Special thanks to The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Chris Perez, Adam Everett, and Vinnie Pestano for making this another successful event.

Someone, somewhere once said that winning isn’t everything. Child, please. Winning isn’t everything? Really? What if George Washington had that mentality as he was moving his troops across the Delaware?

George: Guys, I know you are starving and freezing and probably catching a wicked bad cold, but just go out there and do your best. That’s all I can ask for because whether you win or lose, we’ve made some good friends along the way.

What if General William T. Sherman told his troops that right before they made their March to the Sea?

General Sherman: Okay men, this could be the turning point of the Civil War. We are going to burn everything in sight from Atlanta down to Savannah to shut the south down and end this thing. Don’t be afraid to give up or only give half the effort and not win because I’m sure the Confederate Army will just laugh this off in a week…maybe two weeks.

What if the 2011 Cleveland Indians thought like that before every game? We would definitely not have the record that we do, nor would we have so many 9th inning come back wins. My point is, winning is everything and you can’t go into a sport or an event like Bowl for Kids’ Sake bowling tournament thinking that it is okay to lose.

(Photo on left is courtesy of Dan Mendlik) Speaking of Bowl for Kids’ Sake, the Cleveland Indians front office just competed against the Cleveland Browns front office yesterday in the 9th Annual Sports Bowl benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters. After losing the past 4 years to the Cleveland Browns, this was going to be our year! Our entire front office wanted to win this so badly. We actually got into it more this year than we have in past years–and it helped that while we were bowling we had the Tribe game (versus Oakland) on for extra motivation. Even the Indians’ wives fielded a bowling team! Slider and Chomps bowled the ceremonial first bowl (which both ended up being gutter balls) and we were under way.

Fast forward two scored games and one fun game and the results were in. The Cleveland Indians (who fielded 12 teams of 5) had a combined pin count of 14, 123–a solid total and more than in past years. The Cleveland Browns (also having 12 teams of 5) had a pin count of 14, 470 and for the 5th year in a row, took the trophy from us.

I can’t say that I am happy about the loss. What I can say is that I am happy that both the Browns and the Indians raised over $10,000 to donate to Big Brothers Big Sisters, which is a HUGE win for all three organizations. I can also say that I am happy knowing that one of our employees who competed is a crazy big Pittsburgh Steelers fan and for the Browns to beat a Steelers fan is always a good thing. Thank you to the employees of both front offices who participated to make this such a great event. Without you all, we wouldn’t have lost for the 5th year in a row.

I don’t really know too many kids that would turn down a chance to get a professional baseball player’s autograph, especially when it is free. I guess I really don’t know too many kids at this point in my life, but reflecting back to when I was younger I know I would have jumped at the idea.

If you are one of those types of kids…or if you are the parent of one of those types of kids, then swinging on down to the Cleveland Indians KeyBank Kids Fun Days on Sunday home games is where you ought to be.

The Kids Fun Days take place on select Sunday home games throughout the season. They are held just outside of Progressive Field in the Gateway Plaza and begin at 10:30am lasting through the 5th inning of the game. Activities include a batting cage, pitching cage, gaming tent to play Playstation 3, photo booth and more!

One of the best things about Kids Fun Days is that, if you are a High Achiever Kids Club member (see my blog entry from a couple of days ago on information for that), you can sign in at the High Achiever tent and earn a pass to attend Signature Sunday. Each Kids Fun Day, we give out 200 passes to be able to go down under Progressive Field and get autographs from two Indians players. This past weekend (and in the above picture courtesy of me), we had Vinnie Pestano and Jack Hannahan signing for the kids. The guys love doing it and the kids/parents love it even more.

So be sure to register for High Achievers and come to our next Kids Fun Day so that you can participate in our next Signature Sunday on May 15, 2011. See you there!

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